Plant receptacle having improved drainage means



April 3, 1962 A. KEIDING 3,027,684

PLANT RECEPTACLE HAVING IMPRovED DRAINAGE MEANS Filed Nov. l0, 1958INVENTOR, ,9A/@Pew Kew/va A r rot/VE Y! United States Patent O f'3,027,684 PLANT RECEPTACLE HAVING IMPROVED DRAINAGE MEANS AndrewKeiding, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to Kedng Paper Products Company,Milwaukee, Wis., a co-partnership of Wisconsin Filed Nov.` 10, 1958,Ser. No. 773,014 2 Claims. (Cl. 47-34) This invention relates to a plantreceptacle and method and apparatus for the manufacture thereof.

It is common to provide pulp containers -for growing plants, To theextent to which such containers are provided with drain ports, the portsare located in the bottom. In this location, stoppages frequently occurdue to the bottom of the container becoming sealed, when wet, against asaucer or the like, and thus preventing free drainage `from the soilwithin the container. Moreover, the drainage port at the bottom of acontainer is usually its weakest point where the pulp is thin andparticularly susceptible to rot, being usually removed from aircirculation.

The container of the present invention has ports in its side wall,usually adjacent its bottom. From these ports moisture can drain freelyfrom the planting medium within the container. Not only is there littleor no tendency for the pulp to rot when fully exposed to aircirculation, but the pulp wall is thickened around the opening in thepreferred product as made by the process herein disclosed. Moreover, thewall of the container is desirably recessed slightly in the area of theaperture. While the recess results inherently from the preferred processof manufacture, and the mold used, it has advantages in that therecessing of the wall around the drain port prevents stoppages fromoccurring in the event that the container is used within a jardiniere orthe like.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view in lateral perspective of a pulp receptacle embodyingthe invention.

FIG. 2 is a view taken in horizontal section on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view taken in vertical axial section on the line 3-3 of FIG.2.

FIG. 4 is a view taken in vertical axial section on the line 4-4 of FIG.2.

FIG. 5 is a view in perspective showing a modified container embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a View in side elevation of a mold according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary detail view on an enlarged scale showing thedeposit of pulp on a mold according to FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a view taken in section on line 8-8 of FIG. 7.

The device of FIG. 1 is a planting receptacle 10 of molded pulp or thelike. The composition may be any composition suitable for themanufacture of articles of molded pulp. It usually comprises wood pulpor paper pulp or a mixture thereof, frequently with a rosin size andsometimes containing a fungicide. As best shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, theside wall portions 11 of the container 10 are integrally joined with abottom wall 12 adjacent which the side wall portions have drain ports1S. The wide wall portions adjacent the drain ports are inwardly formedat 16 and are materially thickened at 17. While it is not absolutelynecessary that the ports be disposed immediately adjacent the containerbottom 12, such is their desirable position so that water from theentire contents of the container will readily drain through the ports.

. 3,027,684 Patented Apr. 3, 1962 "ice FIG. 5 shows the inventionembodied in a rectangular walled receptacle wherein the ports arelocated, by preference, in two opposing elongated side walls 110, nearthe respective end walls 111. The shape of the ports 15 and thethickened wall areas 170 around them and the fact that such wall areasare inwardly recessed at are in general correspondence with thepreviously described embodiment except for the fact that the containerin its entirely is rectangular rather than circular in cross section.

It will be noted that in the interior of the receptacle there is anupwardly opening slot at 18 above each of the ports 15 and between thethickened wall areas 1'7. This slot accommodates the insert 19 which issoldered or otherwise mounted on the foraminous wall of the mold 20.This mold desirably comprises an inner wall 21 having a plurality ofsmall perforations 22 and externally covered by a screen cloth 23. Atthe points where drain ports are desired, the entire wall of the mold isformed inwardly in the manner indicated at 162 in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8. Themold, over-all, progressively increases in width in an upward directionso that the mold may readily be withdrawn from the pulp deposit shown at25 in FIGS. 7 and 8. To each of the indented portions of the wall at 162there is attached by soldering or otherwise an impervious insert 19whereof the outer margin 26 projects no farther than the outer surfaceof the screen cloth immediately above the insert. This clearly appearsin FIG. 8. In some instances the insert margin has projected fartherthan the screen and has been withdrawn without damaging the pulp. Thisis practicable because of the resilience of the molded wall.

When the molding operation is conducted by immersing the mold in anaqueous solution of pulp and withdrawing the liquid from the moldinterior, in :accordance with conventional molding practice, the pulpdeposit 25 develops on the exterior of the mold except where the wateris prevented from passing through the mold by the wedgeshaped insert 19.Wherever the insert 19 is used, the pulp builds up as shown at 250 inFIG. 7. Since the insert 19 projects from the screen cloth to a distancegreater than the thickness of the pulp deposit, an opening through thepulp deposit will remain when the insert and mold are withdrawn. Abovethat opening, the rnold withdrawal will retract the insert from thedeposited pulp without deformation of the pulp, since the margin 26 ofthe insert is desirably substantially parallel to the direction ofwithdrawal. This leaves a slot 18 from which the margin 26 of the inserthas been withdrawn. The method is simple, requiring no retractable moldor die parts such as are ordinarily required to make a lateral opening.The resulting receptacle has openings which are strongly reinforced,provide substantially complete drainage without any likelihood ofclogging, and are unusual and distinctive in appearance and have theirdrain surfaces exposed to ambient air circulation.

I claim:

1. A pulp planting receptacle having a bottom and having side wallportions joined to the bottom, certain side wall portions being offsetinwardly respecting contiguous side wall portions adjacent the bottomand being curvilinearly concave in horizontal section and provided withdrain port means opening through the offset side wall portionssubstantially at the level of the bottom wall portion, the side wallportions having upright interior channels intersecting the exterior ofsaid certain side wall portions at the offset thereof and constitutingsaid drain port means.

2. A pulp planting receptacle according to claim 1 in which the saidinwardly offset side wall portions are 2,140,932 Avery Dec. 20,1938laterally thicker adjacent the port means than the said 2,584,109Blackburn Feb. 5, 1952 contiguous side wall portions. 2,738,621 AbbrechtMar. 20, 1956 2,810,234 Blackburn etal. Oct. 22, 1957 References Citedin the le of this patent 5 2,858,647 Cotton Nov` 4I 1958 UNITED STATESPATENTS 942,238 Balsley Dec. 7, 1909 FOREIGN PATENTS

